Thursday, July 24, 2014

The New York City designer
chose the ultimate in simplicity – a one-coloured grey rectangular rug with no
pattern. She also chose the ultimate in luxury fibres – 100% silk.

She was only willing to
trust the simplicity of the design and the luxury of the fibre to the finest
production processes. For this she came to Creative Matters. No detail was to
be left unperfected in the painstaking production of this rug. And that
included the lesser-documented process of binding.

The easiest, most economical way to
finish off the edge of raw carpeting is to sew tape over the edge of a carpet
with a high powered sewing machine. Obviously, this was not our vision for the
grey silk rug.

The Nepalese artisans to whom we
had entrusted the production of the rug, take incredible pride in their work
and for them binding is a three-step process.

First, the loose threads
from the warp and weft were folded back and encouraged to grip each other
tightly with a high quality adhesive. After it had dried, the artisans worked
their way around the rug perimeter with a special stitch that anchors the
threads securely. Finally, they took the same grey silk thread and closely
bound the entire edge with an overcast stitch.

The stitches may look simple but the ability to
anchor the stitch to a weft thread is key. A poorly executed stitch will lead
to a tension inconsistency and eventually knots unraveling from the rug. Search
Google for rug binding and most of the entries will be from companies who
specialize in this oft-needed repair.

This splendid grey silk rug is currently in
shipment - we look forward to presenting it in its full splendour shortly.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Following Carol Seberts’s
discovery of some incredible natural dyeing expertise in Nepal in March, we
are excited to announce our first natural dye collection. We’ll be bringing
the first rug to show off at NYICS in September and rolling out the full collection quickly thereafter. And here is a sneak peak at
the design of the first rug.

The rug itself it is still in the weaving process, but here are some incredible photos of the wool at the dyeing mill. The dyeing stage alone, can take as long as two weeks.

The dyeing process starts with the
preparation of the colour. The dye master tests and mixes the natural dyes making up a batch for each colour required in a rug. Tibetan dye masters have acquired a deep knowledge of the natural dyeing materials over many generations but due to the popularity of chemicals
dyes, this traditional art came close to being wiped out.

When
the dye master has achieved the correct colour, the yarn is placed in the hot dye where it is cooked for
shorter or longer periods of time and at higher or lower temperatures,
depending on the dye and the shade desired.

Once the dye master is satisfied with
the tones the wool has taken on, s/he pulls the steamy bundle from the pot. Over 170 plants have been short-listed for dying use in Nepal,
including: indigo, mulberry, saffron, turmeric,
rhubarb roots and walnut. Madder root is often used for red hues.

Smaller quantities of wool are dyed in the pot and handled manually.
Heavier quantities are loaded onto a spindle which is turned by hand to dip the
wool into the dye time and time again.

When natural dyes are handled
correctly, even in skeins of yarn not yet woven, the colours are simply
beautiful.

Here the dye master in Nepal is showing us in Toronto how the dried wool now matches the colour specified in our design.A dye master - like a good winemaker - must be a chemist and a microbiologist with a working
knowledge of botany, geology, meteorology and plant physiology. We’re delighted
to have finally found a dye master who can meet the exacting standards of
Creative Matters.